Christina Parise, LCSW
I spent years not feeling like myself.
Now I help women stop doing that.
If you've spent years collecting theories about what's "wrong" with you, anxious, dramatic, lazy, too much, you're not the first. I'm a therapist who focuses on the overlap between ADHD and trauma in women, and I didn't get my own diagnosis until I was 35.
How I ended up here
I got my degree in psychology and started working with kids in behavioral health. That's where I met therapists for the first time and realized what I actually wanted to do: help people feel understood by themselves, not just by everyone around them.
The moment everything changed
I stopped performing "professional."
Early in my career, I ran sessions the way grad school modeled them, and I dreaded going to work. So I brought in pillows, a chair I could actually sit cross-legged in, and started telling clients to get comfortable, we'd be here a while. I kicked my shoes off. I stopped performing and started just being present.
My schedule filled up. Clients opened up faster. We got further, because they were finally talking to a real person instead of a therapist-shaped mask.
What kept showing up
Soup, but you're only handed a fork.
Women in their 20s and 30s kept showing up with a diagnosis that didn't fit. Bipolar. PTSD. ADHD, prescribed like it was the whole story. I'd start assessing and think, this isn't bipolar, this is untreated trauma. Or the reverse: the medication isn't working because the real thing underneath is trauma.
Trying to work through trauma while managing ADHD symptoms is like eating soup with a fork. You get frustrated, you feel defeated, and no amount of effort makes it go smoother, because the tool doesn't match the task.
People usually assume I'm reserved
I'm the person dancing badly at a concert with her friends, not caring who's watching. That's most of what I want for my clients too.
Built around the clinical work, not the insurance code that fits closest to it.
Now That You Know Me A Little
Here's where this can go from here.
You've read the parts of this I don't usually put on a website. So here's the practical part: three ways in, depending on what you need today. No wrong door, no forced timeline either direction.
01
Start with the Screener
Five minutes. Four pattern areas. A written read on what you're actually working with, and what kind of next step makes sense. Not a diagnosis.
02
Book a Diagnostic Evaluation
Two sessions. A written report. Real clinical answers on whether what you're experiencing is ADHD, trauma, or both.
03
Join Held It Together
Ongoing community, weekly structure, body doubling, and a clinician's brain on rotation.
The List
For the women who are done figuring it out alone.
Occasionally, I send the thing I wish someone had told me sooner. A plain-language breakdown of an ADHD or trauma pattern, the overlap nobody explains, or the occasional "oh god, that's me" that makes the whole inbox worth opening. No 14-step morning routines. No spam. Just a clinician who gets it, landing in your inbox when you have a second to read.
No spam. No list-share. Unsubscribe any time.
Christina Parise, LCSW Licensed Clinical Social Worker Nevada #8099-C | Michigan #6801115510 | Iowa #133535
The Pattern Screener is an educational tool. It is not a diagnosis and does not establish a therapist-client relationship. If you're in crisis, please contact 911 (call or text) or go to your nearest emergency room.
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